Benchmade, Spyderco, or Kershaw?

I

itannerjh

Joined
Mar 2, 2013
Messages
36
Hi everyone, I am new to this forum, and I had a question. I am on a budget (under 150 dollars), and I need to get a flashlight, and a folding EDC knife. I'm pretty sure that I would like the knife brand to be Kershaw, Benchmade, or Spyderco, but if any of you "knife veterans" have any other brands that you have had a good experience with at all, by all means, let me know. Like I said, I am thinking either Kershaw, Benchmade or Spyderco, but there are so many models and makes that I would like the opinion of someone more experienced than me (or anyone for that matter, I'm kind of a "newbie" here) on what would be a good combo. I'm thinking that the light will be the penlight from 4-Sevens. I know that Benchamde is a pretty prestigious knife manufacturer, so it's a little bit harder to find somthing under like 100 dollars, but it is my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) that both kershaw and Spyderco make some high value folders. One last thing is that I would like the blade to be in the ball park of 3.5 inches and, taking a note from nutnfancy, relatively lightweight. I'm fine with assisted opening. Thanks for all of your opinions!


PS: Like I said, I'm new to this whole forum thing, so did I post this in the right forum (General Knife Discussion)?
 
Last edited:
Try a Kershaw Skyline, lightweight and low cost! Could also pick up an limited edition stonewashed red from our beloved kershawguy!
 
What kind of knife are you looking for? What will it be mostly used for? Any particular features/materials you like?
 
Yep, you posted in the right area of the forum for your questions. Can't help you with your light, but it seem you have that worked out already. As to the knife, I would get a Kershaw Blur in S30V from the Kershaw Guy. He sells quality Blems at great prices. Most of the blems are hard to find blems, usually only insignificant cosmetic blems, like a scratch or something. Look him up on the Kershaw/zero tolerance section of this forum. He is a great guy to do business with.

Welcome to the forum, a great place for all things knifes and then some.

Blessings,

Omar
 
Welcome to the forums. Other brands I'd feel comfortable recommending in your price range would be a RAT 1 folder. Great knife for the money and the Cold Steel Voyager series. Tough as nails at a decent price.

Otherwise BM, Spyderco, and Kershaw have some great offering's on a budget. Take your time and look around.

Best of luck!
 
Last edited:
As far as your choices, I have a Kershaw leek ans spyderco tenacious and there both great... for about 30. As far as nutinfancy , take his opinions with a grain of salt.
 
I have a Spyderco tenacious, resilience, and 2 enduras.. Awesome knives. There very light, comfortable in your hand. There shaving sharp. And for $33 or $44 bucks. $60-70 for the endura4. I also have had the bench made 550 and 551. Cpm154 steel is a very good steel keeps sharp along time, depending on your usage. There all high performance blades. There is a line of heavy duty folders made from pretty much the same steel. The line is called bad blood..I have all 3 folders and the fire spitter is by far my favorite. Is also 9.5oz. It's a BIG knife. I also have had a pelican brand light since2005 and have not had to change. The bulb... It's a good bright full size light. Great for ccw, light/knife.and it's tuff. I also have 4 surrefires and there great also. Your choice of Knife/light combo for your price range is rather large. I have had over 15 different models of Kerahaws. You have a lot of research to do. It has taken me 8 years and a lot of r&d. There all solid brands..
 
between the 3 it really depends what you like. i love the spydie hole and also spydercos unconventional designs. kershaw has some of the best bang for the buck knives around. benchmade has the axis lock and they consistently churn out high quality knives. IMO choosing between the 3 is like trying to choose between BMW, Audi and Mercedes.... you can't really go wrong with any of them.
 
The Kershaw Leek, Blur, Skyline, Echelon, Knockout, and the Piston all have 3-4 inch blades and are made in the USA. They can also all be had for under $100. All of them have Speedsafe except the Skyline, which is a great manual flipper.
 
You can get a Para 2 around $110 if you shop around and are patient.
Other good choices: Delica, Native, Griptilian/Mini-Griptilian, Skyline
Kershaw Leek is ok, I have one and while it's a good knife I don't love it so I can't recommend it.
 
I'm a big fan of Kershaw, good quality and good prices, and nice looking to boot. Spyderco are certainly good knives, I just...don't generally like the look of them, tbh. Not a fan of the spydie-hole, either. Never tried a Benchmade.
 
Here's a few to check out. Spyderco Sage 1, Benchmade Mini Grip and Kershaw Zing (listed most to least expensive) all great EDCs IMO
 
Kershaw Leek, Spyderco Delica, BM Mini-grip... all good. And if you stick around long enough, you'll own 'em all like the rest of us ;)
 
I have products from all 3 companies and I like them all. My favorite company is Benchmade but there are more Spyderco and Kershaw knives on my wish list than Benchmades. You can find models from all 3 companies that are good and I'm not going to generalize that one company is any better than another because they are all different and they have different ranges of products.

With your price range for a knife plus a light, assuming you want a good light, this will restrict you some. I think in general the number of models at low prices goes first to Kershaw, second to Spyderco and last to Benchmade. IOW you will find more models from Kershaw in your price range, then Spyderco and lastly Benchmade. You can rank the companies in this way based on price, but depending on your style preferences you will choose which company you like the most.
 
Here is the way I see the three companies.
Kershaw (ZT is also owned by Kershaw, or rather KAI) is all over the map when it comes to designers, features, and prices. They have amazing high value folders like the Oso Sweet but they also make very exotic sprint runs like the Tilt which can go for hundreds of dollars. In short, it's impossible for someone to say they don't like Kershaw because their line varies so much. I'd recommend:
Leek (s30v G10), Scallion, Blur, Skyline, Cryo, Oso Sweet.

Spyderco makes some real quality stuff. I've never been dissatisfied with a knife from Spyderco. I can't say I like all of their models. Some of their designs can get a little cooky but mechanically and functionally speaking they're all superb. They really know how to make a good lock. All of them, even ones from their China/Taiwan factories, have amazing quality for the price. You'll always get a quality blade steel from Spyderco. Overall I consider them slightly more higher end than Kershaw, but like I said Kershaw is all across the board. Check out the:
Tenacious, Sage, Delica, Endura, Caly 3 or 3.5, Paramilitary II.

Benchmade has the best reputation it seems but really I see them as on par with the quality level as Spyderco. They really hit a homerun with their Axis lock mechanism. Their designs can very quite a bit too, but not as much as Kershaw and Spyderco. Everyone I've owned has been awesome. They're very well made and very tough. I like the:
940, 710, and 707

Here is my view on Nutnfancy. In short, I like him. Seems like a cool practical dude. Compared to other knife reviewers, hes is organized, covers all the topics, and has a nice setup/lighting/camera. So long as you don't mind long, unedited, winged reviews he has some nice videos. He tries to be unbiasd but like most people with opinions it's impossible to be 100% unbiased. Just pick out the facts and decide for yourself. All his other non-review videos I don't bother with.
 
Depending on what type of locking mechanism you prefer? I started with Kershaw Liner lock, then move one to BM AXIS...many say once you gone AXIS lock, very difficult to go back to liner.

Now I only have BM, Spyderco bearing lock & compression lock...frame lock in my future but those gets pricy.
 
I will put a disclaimer first that I am generalizing pretty heavily, but they hold mostly true.

Spyderco knives are great, and they offer a nice balance of budget knives and high end knives, with a love of hardcore value knives in the middle *cough* Delica *cough*. Kershaw is mainly budget focused, with outstanding quality cheapies and a love of nice low-mid range knives. Kershaw doesn't generally use higher end steel except for limited runs (and they have their higher end hard use line with Zero Tolerance). Benchmade in general has very few budget knives (they are getting more with HK and Lone Wolf now), but their build quality is good, and the axis lock is spectacular. Benchmade also frequently uses premium steel, and their warranty is arguably the best (if you don't fall into their draconian warranty voiding actions).

I prefer Spyderco because of the Spyderhole. They also have the best killer value knives (again, Delica both ZDP and VG-10). Get yourself a UK Penknife, Delica, and Manix and you will never need another knife... but you will keep getting them.

Edit: If you are left handed, pretty much avoid Kershaw. They offer next to nothing in terms of southpaw friendly knives. Almost every Spyderco and Benchmade knife has a southpaw option.
 
Moxy said:
Here is the way I see the three companies.
Kershaw (ZT is also owned by Kershaw, or rather KAI) is all over the map when it comes to designers, features, and prices. They have amazing high value folders like the Oso Sweet but they also make very exotic sprint runs like the Tilt which can go for hundreds of dollars. In short, it's impossible for someone to say they don't like Kershaw because their line varies so much. I'd recommend:
Leek (s30v G10), Scallion, Blur, Skyline, Cryo, Oso Sweet.

Spyderco makes some real quality stuff. I've never been dissatisfied with a knife from Spyderco. I can't say I like all of their models. Some of their designs can get a little cooky but mechanically and functionally speaking they're all superb. They really know how to make a good lock. All of them, even ones from their China/Taiwan factories, have amazing quality for the price. You'll always get a quality blade steel from Spyderco. Overall I consider them slightly more higher end than Kershaw, but like I said Kershaw is all across the board. Check out the:
Tenacious, Sage, Delica, Endura, Caly 3 or 3.5, Paramilitary II.

Benchmade has the best reputation it seems but really I see them as on par with the quality level as Spyderco. They really hit a homerun with their Axis lock mechanism. Their designs can very quite a bit too, but not as much as Kershaw and Spyderco. Everyone I've owned has been awesome. They're very well made and very tough. I like the:
940, 710, and 707

Here is my view on Nutnfancy. In short, I like him. Seems like a cool practical dude. Compared to other knife reviewers, hes is organized, covers all the topics, and has a nice setup/lighting/camera. So long as you don't mind long, unedited, winged reviews he has some nice videos. He tries to be unbiasd but like most people with opinions it's impossible to be 100% unbiased. Just pick out the facts and decide for yourself. All his other non-review videos I don't bother with.
Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better myself......
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top